AI startup Suno’s new tool puts music to spoken word

SUNO, the artificial intelligence music startup valued at more than US$5 billion, is launching a new tool that’ll let users put background music to their spoken-word creations, such as poems, meditations and speeches.

Called “Speech”, the product will complement the service’s primary use case – generating songs of any genre, complete with lyrics.

“You can make a poem and bring it to life,” Mikey Shulman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Suno, said at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles on Thursday (Oct 1).

Shulman said the service wants to become a destination for “creative entertainment” beyond music.

Suno has emerged as one of the fastest-growing generative AI startups, allowing people with little or no musical training to create complete songs from text prompts. The company surpassed two million paying subscribers earlier this year and was on pace for about US$300 million in annual recurring revenue.

“The magic of AI is that it’s a technology that lets us give a creative experience literally to everyone,” Shulman said. “And so in that light, I think of the purpose of Suno is creative entertainment.”

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The Cambridge-based startup raised more than US$400 million in June at a US$5.4 billion valuation, more than double the US$2.45 billion valuation it secured just seven months earlier. The latest round was led by Bond Capital, with participation from investors including IVP, Forerunner, Union Square Ventures, Lightspeed and Menlo Ventures.

Suno’s rapid rise has put it at the centre of a battle over how AI companies use copyrighted music. Major record labels sued Suno in 2024, accusing the startup of training its technology on copyrighted recordings without permission or compensation. Warner Music later settled its claims and struck a licensing partnership with Suno, while litigation involving Universal Music and Sony Music Entertainment remains unresolved.

The relationship between Suno and the music industry has since begun to shift from confrontation towards collaboration. Suno introduced v6 about a month ago, its first generation of models developed with music-industry players including Warner Music and BMG Rights Management. The new model allows rights holders to be paid, although the exact remuneration structure for artists and songwriters is still unclear.

Artists are reluctant to publicly discuss using Suno, Shulman said, because of the controversy surrounding AI music. “It’s a little bit hard to stick your neck out,” he said. “Nobody wants to be the first person to come forward.”

Shulman said he expects the broader music industry to eventually embrace AI as companies recognise its potential. “I think everybody will come along,” he said. BLOOMBERG